June 27, 2011
Well this week was a little better. I can really understand what they are saying, I mean I can tell which words they are saying, still don’t know what all of them mean. Anyways the family I told you about last week who wouldn’t get baptized because they need to get married, well they are getting married on the 9th and then we are taking them to the church to baptize them. Ballin!!! Then on Sunday a new guy moved into the ward, Hermano Nappa. He is pretty cool, he just moved here from Nefi, just outside Asuncion. He has asked us for so many books of Mormon to hand out. We taught the lady who he works with and we have a baptism date for her too on the 16 of July. I know I don’t understand everything that happens in the lessons but I do know how to share a scripture, usually 3 Nephi 27:19-20, and ask them to follow the example of Jesus and get baptized on a specific day. Then when they say yes, it makes the whole day worth it, because yes there are definitely days where I just want to come home because it is hard. But in a month I’ll know what’s going on. Everyone asks how long have you been here and the answer is always the same....hace diez dias & they always look so shocked. They say that I can speak really good.
This week the whole district had low numbers, my comp is the DL so he knows what the numbers are, we stayed in the apartment for 2 days because I was sick. We had better numbers. Another thing, I won’t go into details but just read Jeremiah 4:19-20 and that’s how the 2 days went. So since I was in the house so long, I got a lot of reading done...I finished the Book of Mormon ¨wow wow wee wow´´ and so I started to read the New Testament. I am almost done with Luke and boy is it hard to read!!!
We have like no money left because we didn’t get a reimbursement for our bus tickets today so I have to take out more money so I can buy another ticket to Asuncion so we can go there tonight. We have some meeting with all the new misioneros and we don’t come back till wed night:(
Right now I am eating some fresh empanadas, so much better than the fake ones in America.
Yesterday we went to San Miguel, it’s the other part of my area and it’s the campo. So far away from out house. 3 mile walk almost. There are so many stay dogs that jump 6 foot fences and come bark at you. Good thing I wear my steel toed boots. So today the encomienda didn’t come, really ticked because I can’t order my Spanish leather scripture cases or my name tags in Guaraní, but hope I can do that tomorrow. Today we are going around to shop and look at some stuff, glasses, watches, shoes, soccer shirts. I’ll try to find some stuff for yall. If you want me to get you some scripture cases, glasses, anything tell me and I can look. One thing I will get you is a wuampa...the cup and straw that they drink their drink out of. We aren’t allowed to drink it. Today I’m going to get a haircut, hope it doesn’t look too bad. Last night we went to a member’s house and made bollos. They are like really thick doughnut holes and you smear dulce de leche all over them, (so delicious)
So i was going to send home some pics to you but this computer doesn’t have a slot for my card, only a usb, so when you send a package can you send an sd card reader that I can plug into the computer. If you send hand written letters just send them to the mission office, we get mail every Monday, well not today it didn’t come, so I’ll get it mañana. But you can send emails or letters I don’t care. Both are great. Since we are not allowed to email anyone but family and grandparents, tell Saige I wrote her a letter and it’s in the mail.
When I get your hand written one I’ll send you a hand written one
That’s about it for this week. Maybe when you send me a package, can you put in the pictures of the house, the farm, family stuff, and a bunch of pics from senior year.
Well my times about up and time to hit the town.
Love you all...
Elder Salinas
June 20, 2011
Well I guess this was one of the longest weeks of my life. Flying on an airplane that long and not being able to sleep really stinks. I had like 4 hours of sleep and was awake for like 36 hours. Not Cool.
Well I guess this was one of the longest weeks of my life. Flying on an airplane that long and not being able to sleep really stinks. I had like 4 hours of sleep and was awake for like 36 hours. Not Cool.
So we got to the mission home and met President Callan and his wife. We talked and they gave us some stuff. I don’t even remember what they gave us. Then that night we had food. Some type of fried pork I think and what we all thought was going to be mashed potatoes. It wasn’t. Don’t know what it was and I don’t know how I choked it down, but you gotta eat everything to be nice. The people here have nothing, and they still give you half of that nothing.
The next day we had to get up at 5 to go sign into Paraguay or state that we are here or something. Then we had a meeting at the church and we met our trainers. My trainer is Elder Moore. He is pretty cool. He leaves in 11 weeks when he is done training me. He is from Vegas and we can relate to a lot of things.
Next we got on a bus to Encarnación. That’s my first area, and it was a 6 hour bus ride to get there...well actually, it’s more like 7 because the bus driver stops at every peddler (person selling junk, food, drinks) and its crazy. Anyways we get to the apartment and it’s a dump you could say. For our bathroom, a sink, toilet, and a shower. There is no shower curtain or even anything to really catch the water. At home, we have a ´´tub´´ or a shower to trap all the water, here we have a one inch high thing of tile to hold in the water, and it doesn’t work at all. So we have to like throw the water back up into the ´´shower´´!!! The stove is about the size of an easy bake no joke. In Encarnación there is garbage all over the streets, broken sidewalks, and apparently it is the cleanest city in all of Paraguay. We are going back to Asuncion tomorrow; we are going to the temple. Anyways when people here talk, they speak Spanish but say it like they are speaking Guaraní. So it’s all slurred together in a huge mess. When people talk slow I can understand, but usually I have no clue what’s going on....I just smile and wave. I do give a big part of the lesson, share scriptures and explain things too. Here’s something all you will love. This family we are teaching wants to get baptized. They just need to get married. They want a huge wedding and that’s why they won’t get married already cuz they are poor. We are teaching them and their baby starts crying. She just whips out a **** walks over to the crib/box and then walks back over **** hangin all over the place with a mind of its own and she starts to feed the baby. Yeah that happened!!! Also there is a porn stand at about every corner. You will see kids walking around with stacks of movies or porn to go sell. These kids are like 10 maybe 11. This other lady that is being taught she has a 7 year old daughter, and she is only 20. Oh well...that same lady who was feeding her baby, yeah she did it again at church yesterday!!! It’s hard enough to give a 12 min talk in Spanish but when there is a **** starring you down from the congregation, wow scary.
Everyone has to give you some type of food. I’m good with going back to the apartment and eating a bowl of Trix, yeah Trix. and here they still make them in the shapes, not the balls they have in the U.S. So yesterday we ate lunch and a family calls us, they said hey we got something for you. We said is it food? They said no, no we just have something for you, and we told them already that we had eaten. Yeah it was food. Big piece of mystery meat and maneioca. I thought again it was a potato....wrong again. Not very good...but they gave us some piña soda so that was good. Then later to the next house they gave us potato salad surprise and Sopa Paraguaya....they don’t use sopa to say soup here, it’s some type of bread that’s not very good.
Then we went to visit Sergio and he had just gotten back from Asuncion and was really tired and hungry...so he ordered like 10 empanadas. So hard to eat because we are full but so delish!!! So I’m hoping I don’t get fat...oh yeah and one other place that we had a lunch appt. she made noodles like spaghetti noodles all chopped up and it had some steak in it. The ingredient used most by here was some good ole grease. I felt like such a lard cake after eating it. Half the dish was grease, fit looked like she had just dumped it off of a really old gross tony´s pizza. I almost threw it up because it was so hard to eat 
!!!
!!! So today we have p-day. Well usually, since we are going to the temple tomorrow we have to work tonight and get on a bus to go to Asuncion at 12:30 in the morning. I’ll write some letters tonight. but all the roads if they are not paved, cobble stone, rock, red dirt. My black shoes are red. Probably have to buy new ones while I’m here but they only cost like 200 mil that’s like 20 bucks. Cars here are super cheap it you can afford one. Everyone has a really crappy motorcycle that stinks really bad. Garments at the temple down here are pretty cheap, since there is a distribution center, 50 cents for bottoms and 75 cents for tops. Members have a limit on how many they can buy but not us missionaries. If they have the kind I want , I’ll buy like 100 bucks worth before i come home. IDK why but we aren’t allowed to drink coke. They have a drink here Fanta, the flavor is the same as a monster!!! Those run about 3 mil or 60 cents in the U.S. and they are like 20 oz. bottles. way legit.
So every month here we get 750.000 Guaraní. That’s about 190 bucks in America. We give a lady 50 mil a month to do our laundry every week...awesome. I took off a pair of garments the other day, the whole backside and back of the legs were completely red from the dirt on the chairs and stuff. Just imagine the dirtiest place in Nampa like where we used to live the houses here are way worse. just bricks thrown together and they floors are not dirt but you think they are because of how much dirt there is on the floor. So when i get off that plane in 21.5 months, I’ll be red. All the old elders here have like dingy brown and red shirts. There are some sweet stores in my area cuz we are in the city. Sport stores, watch stores, sunglasses stores. You all should get some good stuff!!!
Well that’s all for this first week in Paraguay. Can’t wait to get some letters. I got one from Dalton today...if you sent dear elders they will just send them here so it’s free if you want to do that. I’ll see about getting some postcards in the mail sometime too.
Love you all. Hope you had a great Father’s Day dad!!
New Missionaries at the airport
New missionaries with their trainers and President & Sister Callan
New Missionaries
Orientation Meeting
JUNE 14, 2011
What up all? I made it to Paraguay. iI was a really long flight last night and almost all day today. We are at the mission home right now. This country is probably one of the most humble places you can go. tTnight we are going to stay at a hotel and then tomorrow morning we will get shipped off to who knows where in Southern Paraguay. But just letting you know that I made it and that I'm safe. I love you
Elder Salinas
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